Bank-backed mobile payment operators from Italy, Spain and Portugal have pioneered interoperable money transfers, making it possible for users to conduct instant cross-border P2P transactions.
Italy's Bancomat, Spain's Bizum and Portugal's MB WAY/SIBS demonstrated the offering at the Web Summit this week, carrying out live transactions through Sepa instant transfers and in collaboration with financial institutions in their countries.
Codenamed EuroPA, the European Payments Alliance is aiming to bring mobile payment interoperability to more than 45 million customers and 182 financial institutions from next year, with ambitions to expand beyond Italy, Spin and Portugal.
The partners say their effort is a viable option for the Eurosystem's objective of encouraging the adoption of pan-European instant transfers using existing infrastructures.
Another project, the European Payments Initiative (EPI) - a Europe-wide bank-backed venture - began rolling out its Wero mobile-first wallet and instant account-to-account payments system over the summer.